


Quantum Entanglement

by teicakes



Category: Free!
Genre: Body Swap, M/M, Rating May Change, crack fic to unwind so nothing that serious, magic mackerel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-01
Updated: 2014-05-01
Packaged: 2018-01-21 08:44:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1544711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teicakes/pseuds/teicakes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The evening starts out normal enough, mackerel and movies and falling asleep together. The next morning however, is anything but.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Quantum Entanglement

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lesfrites](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=lesfrites), [natsui](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=natsui).



> Okay, this is all thanks to [Natsui](http://natsui.tumblr.com) for bringing up body swap fics one day. A silly, light hearted, Tei never looks back while writing fic in-between writing blocks for other stories. Rating may or may not change depending on how I end up concluding this too.
> 
> Should have the next chapter of Interspecies up tomorrow

"Haru, we're not eating that."

Haruka looked up from the mackerel he was grilling to glare at Makoto, lips pursed in an expression that held the weight of a thousand conversations over the repetitive menu items in the Nanase household that always ended in one way. 

"You don't have to eat it, but if you want anything else you're cooking it yourself."

"But Haruuuu~ look at it! There's a weird purple tint to it! How is that normal? You can't tell me that's normal you've fed me way too much mackerel over the years and I know you've never served me a purple fillet before."

The boy's only response was to blink pointedly at Makoto before turning back to the more interesting matter of cooking fish. "It's just the scales," he muttered. "The meat's completely fine."

A defeated Makoto slumped off to the table carrying two bowls of rice. He knew when he'd lost against Haru (70% of their arguments and most of the other 30% were won by playing the water card), instead picking up his phone to check on Nagisa and Rei. Apparently Rei was being dragged off to karaoke or something else equally Nagisa and he was fairly sure it'd either end in injury or screaming about beauty. 

Nagisa had just updated him that they'd gotten ice cream (and no so far it was smooth sailing for Rei) when Haruka set the plates of mackerel and a dish of daiko radish next to the rice. He cocked an eyebrow at Makoto and the brunette showed him the string of texts on his screen. 

"Rei's going to try to over-prove himself at karaoke and get upset when his voice cracks." With an unspoken word between them he divided the mackerel, smaller, less purple tinted piece going to Makoto, the deeper coloured, large piece going to himself. 

The brunette stared at his meal uneasily, as if battling politeness against every lesson his mother had taught him about off-looking food. The pregnant silence grew, Haruka staring at Makoto expectantly until he gave up all pretenses of hosting manners and thrust a mouthful through Makoto's barely parted lips. 

"Mmph! 'AHRU!" Makoto doubled over in surprise but someone managed to both chew and swallow without spewing bits of fish all over his front. His pink lips pursed, eyes looking skyward as he tried to find the right words.

"It's actually… really good," he said as he took another bite.

Haruka gave him a knowing smile before having some of his own. Makoto was right. As always, he'd cooked the mackerel to perfection, but there was an extra flavour there, something slightly un-saba like that somehow managed to blend in perfectly with everything he knew and loved about the fish. It was somehow familiar though, like something left untasted for years and all that remains in memory is how it made you feel in that instant.

Whatever the purple-causing agent in the mackerel was, it was good.  

They finished the meal quickly, Makoto clearing the dishes to the sink and filling their cups back up with tea. It was a little unspoken rule of his; even if he couldn’t cook to save his life, he always tried to make up for it with washing. Haruka took the time to gaze out the back door onto the porch and yard beyond, alternating between sips of tea and ideas for tomorrow’s mackerel dish.

Just as he finished the last dregs from his cup Makoto came to stand behind him. One hand, red from the hot dishwater and pruned at the fingers pulled him up, and the pair made their way upstairs.

“You sure it’s okay for me to stay over tonight?” Haruka rolled his eyes. _Of course it was fine. They only slept over at each other’s houses every second week how was it not?_ Still, Makoto – ever polite – always asked the same question each time, with the same response to Haruka’s answer: a chuckle and warm thank you.

They both bathed, Makoto first, then Haruka, then Makoto again as he wrangled the dark-haired boy out of his 40 minute bath (“but Makoto I always soak an _hour_ in the evenings you’re interrupting my sacred time with water!”) and finally managed to dry off enough to pull on their pajamas and pull out the spare futon in Haru’s room. Makoto had brought his laptop, so they ended up watching a movie, some horror film Nagisa recommended to them (apparently he was dragging Rei along to it’s sequel tonight, leading Haruka to grudgingly admit Makoto had won their bet).

By about 23 minutes in it was clear Haru was the only one actually watching it, Makoto reduced to a hulking mass of jellied limbs hiding behind his back. They stuck with it for another half hour until gentle snores started emanating from the small of Haruka’s back. The older boy calmly turned the movie off, shut the laptop, and tried to extract himself from the other’s arms.

“Ahruuu-chann,” was Makoto’s groggy protest as he burrowed deeper into the boy’s shirt. “Sleepyyy.”

Haruka let out an indignant huff, but settled down on the futon anyway. Sleepy Makoto was a cute Makoto; it was like saying no to a puppy. Soon enough he’d be asleep anyway and his grip would loosen just enough for Haruka to wiggle out.

He lay still. Makoto’s peaceful breathing was the only sound in the otherwise silent twilight, a meditation soundtrack that left his mind wandering as he tottered on the brink of dreaming.

Makoto. Somehow both brave and scaredy-cat, stern and lenient, motherly yet completely household chore incompetent. How the heck did that even balance out? Compared to him Haru was 1st grade reading material.

“Someday I want to know what it’s like in your head,” he mumbled, finally teetering into the waiting arms of sleep.

==

Makoto woke to a strip of sunlight on his face, which was kinda weird since Haruka usually closed the curtains when he started nodding off. Still it was nothing a little readjusting couldn’t fix. Another body – Haru’s of course – was pressed against his own, still snoring away oblivious to the offending sunbeam.

He rolled over, careful not to wake the other boy, and buried his face in the pillow, drowsiness starting to overtake him again. Makoto’s toes brushing against Haru’s knees. _Huh,_ he thought. _Haru’s knees are really muscular._

Wait a minute.

Toes. Knees.

Wasn’t Haru shorter then him? Forcing himself to roll over Makoto cracked an eye open.

The proceeding shriek was loud enough to wake up his friend and half the neighbourhood.

“ ‘Mkoto, it’s just a nightmare,” protested the body in front of him.

 _His_ body.

Makoto’s screams reached a new level of shrill, pitching up so high it started getting hard to actually hear them as he backpedaled away as fast as his limbs would let him.

“ _THIS IS A NIGHTMARE THIS ISN’T REAL THERE ISN’T ANOTHER M-“_

“Makoto,” snapped his clone. “Shut up before you wake up the rest of th- oh…” He cocked his head to the side, a rather disconcerting motion when you’re watching yourself do it to you. “Wait… Why do you look like me?”

“Wha-what?” said Makoto. “ _You’re_ the one that looks like _me!_ And where’s Haru? _”_

“No… Makoto… _you_ have _my_ face.” His doppelganger groped around on the bed for Haru’s phone. Makoto continued to watch slackjawed as his body moved in ways he’d never seen it move. It was like an out of body experience. 

The click of a phone camera brought him back, a monotone “catch”  the only warning he had before clumsily attempting to catch the cell midair. There was a photo on screen… but it wasn’t-

“Wh-why is this a photo of Haru…? Why isn’t it… why is he…”

Makoto’s words trailed off as he pulled his fringe in front of his eyes.

Not brown.

“No…” he whimpered. “No no no no no this is impossible! This can’t be happening…” But now that he looked closer, his hands were smaller, more delicate, legs shorter and absent of legskin tan. Even his clothes weren’t his own, but what Haruka had worn to bed last night. “I’m in Haru’s body?”

“And I’m in yours by the looks of it,” said Haru as he lifted his shirt to inspect Makoto’s abdominals. Blush broke out across his – well technically they were Haru’s – cheeks.

“Haru can you please pull that back down? It’s embarrassing…”

Haruka gave Makoto his trademark glare (intimidation factor increased +5 due to the sheer weirdness of seeing himself doing it), but acquiesced all the same. A long moment passed, each of them pouring over every detail of their bodies, every curve and freckle, as each other’s mannerisms held them in ways they’d never seen themselves before.

“So…” said Makoto. “What exactly are we going to do?”

Haruka shrugged Makoto's shoulders, then did it again as if the first time had caught him off guard. "Well, I'm taking a bath. Do whatever." 

Ignoring Makoto's little 'bububuts' of protest he made for the door, only to find himself wobbling and shaking on his feet. Makoto sucked in a breath. It was like watching a baby deer try and walk; feet splayed, eyes wide as he made hesitant step after hesitant step.

"Makoto…" squeaked Haru, "how do you work this thing?"

The now ex-brunette open and closed his mouth a few times, not sure what exactly to say. His body was his, how would he give any thought to how it moved if he never thought they'd end up like this (and let's face it, no one ever thought that). In any case, he jumped up to Haru's aid - clearly noticing the now rather obvious height difference the two of them had - and steadied an elbow. 

"I'm just used to it I guess."

Together they made their way to Haru's bathroom. By the time they got there Haruka was a bit more sure on Makoto's feet, but the younger one really couldn't trust him to be safe on wet tile. As soon as the tap was running Haruka stripped off Makoto's shirt. 

"Wait. What are you doing?"

Haru-Makoto gave him a bored look. "Bathing. Like I said I would"

"But you'll see everything!"

"We used to bathe together as kids. I've already seen it."

How could Haru be so matter of fact about all this? Wasn't he even the  _least_  bit freaked out over the whole ordeal? Makoto grabbed his hand before he could pull down the shorts as well. 

"Please Haru. I'm already having trouble wrapping my head around this. I really don't need to see my body naked in a tub washing itself."

"You could join too. That way it's just like me soaking."

"THAT'S NOT THE POINT!" sputtered Makoto. His - he meant  _Haruka's,_ no wait, what? - bright green eyes lit up in shock. "S-sorry," he apologized. "Can you maybe wear a swimsuit, or a blindfold or something?"

His body looked down at him (okay that was definitely the weirdest yet, never in his life had his reflection needed to look down to see him he was never going to get used to this), and before he knew it Haruka had wrapped his arms around Makoto's smaller frame. 

"I'll go put on a suit then."

Haruka left (still a bit wobbly) and returned a few minutes later, shorts traded in for one of his hundreds pairs of jammers. The fabric, usually tight on Haru, was even tighter on his body, the purple pattern only serving to accent each dip and bulge even more (and wow he really hadn't thought much about the different of him and Haru  _there_  but it was pretty effing hard not to when there was a side by side comparison like this). 

"Better?" 

Makoto just stood there stuttering, which for better for worse Haruka took for a yes. He turned off the faucet and lowered Makoto's bulk into the tub. Some of the water sloshed over the edge, the older boy pulling Makoto's face into a grimace. This wasn't how things were supposed to be. He crouched down by the tub, knees drawn in to his chest and awkwardly watched as Haru and  _his_ body settled in. 

"How did this happen?" he asked. "Everything was fine yesterday when we went to sleep." Haruka blew a few bubbles from the tub. "We got back from the pool, had dinner, watched a movie-  _WAIT. Haru."_

"What."

"Dinner. The fish. Where did you get that purple mackerel?"

Haru-Mako blinked. 

"Some fisherman on the wharf."

"Some _random fisherman?_ "

"Well, I got a good deal…"

 _"HARU!"_ Makoto shrieked, startling the boy in the tub.

"Makoto it's really weird seeing you make faces with my face."

He fought against every single last urge to bop Haruka on the head with the scrub brush after he'd been saying the exact same thing all morning. "Look," said Makoto. "It has to be the fish, that's the only thing that was different. It tasted odd… I thought you'd just seasoned it differently, but that  _has_ to be it."

Haru made a noncommittal noise, but Makoto was practically shaking. He'd found it out. They could fix this! 

"Don't you get it?! That's it! It was the mackerel that switched us! That's how we fix it!" Makoto was shaking his - no wait those were Haru's now - shoulders in excitement. "We just need to eat more and we'll swap back! It's that sim _PLEEEEEE!"_

Makoto's footing slipped on the wet floor, leaving him careening and tumbling straight into the lap of his own extremely surprised body. Haruka floundered in surprise, Makoto's face going beet red as he landed nose first against the stomach. The muscles flinched and he screwed his eyes shut, lashes brushing against the skin. 

Maybe if he stayed like this he'd drown before Haru picked up on his embarrassment. 

"Makoto?"

Strong hands gripped him by the shoulders and pulled his face out, leaving him nose to nose with Haru. Even though it was his own face, the expression was pure Haruka, lips pursed, eyebrows slightly furrowed, but everything came though in the eyes. 

"Are you okay?"

Lost for words, all he could do was nod slowly as Haru brushed a mop of black bangs out of his face. It was… uncomfortably intimate, but at the same time oddly familiar, like they'd done something similar in their own bodies before. ___Would he have noticed if they were in their normal bodies?_  

His t-shirt was drenched, not to mention the top of his shorts and the one knee that had fallen in as well. After checking to make sure Makoto hadn't concussed himself against his own abs Haru grabbed Makoto's new waist and pulled him completely into the tub. 

"Haru what are y-pbbttth" asked Makoto as his words were drowned out by a swatch of sopping fabric being pulled over his face. His struggles against the removal of his shirt were futile, Haruka now had Makoto's strength in addition to his usual dexterity. " __ _HARU!"_ he shouted again as his head emerged again. 

Haruka readjusted Makoto's body in the tub to give him more room and casually pointed to the waterlogged shorts on the boy between his legs. 

"You're already wet. Might as well just bathe with me and solve things after."

Makoto puffed up his cheeks in frustration and submerged his black-haired head again.

 

 


End file.
